Wave–matter interactions in epsilon-and-mu-near-zero structures

In recent years, the concept of metamaterials has offered platforms for unconventional tailoring and manipulation of the light–matter interaction. Here we explore the notion of ‘static optics’, in which the electricity and magnetism are decoupled, while the fields are temporally dynamic. This occurs when both the relative effective permittivity and permeability attain near-zero values at a given operating frequency. We theoretically investigate some of the resulting wave features in bounded scenarios, such as unusual radiation characteristics of an emitter embedded in such epsilon-and-mu-near-zero media in bounded environments. Using such media, one might in principle ‘open up’ and ‘stretch’ the space, and have regions behaving electromagnetically as ‘single points’ despite being electrically large. We suggest a possible design for implementation of such structures using a single dielectric rod inserted in a waveguide operating near its cutoff frequency, providing the possibility of having electrically large ‘empty’ volumes to behave as epsilon-and-mu-near-zero media.